[Introduction to] With the Weathermen: The Personal Journal of a Revolutionary Woman

Authors

Susan Stern
Laura Browder, University of RichmondFollow

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Description

Drugs. Sex. Revolutionary violence. From its first pages, Susan Stern's memoir With the Weathermen provides a candid, first-hand look at the radical politics and the social and cultural environment of the New Left during the late 1960s.

The Weathermen--a U.S.-based, revolutionary splinter group of Students for a Democratic Society--advocated the overthrow of the government and capitalism, and toward that end, carried out a campaign of bombings, jailbreaks, and riots throughout the United States. In With the Weathermen Stern traces her involvement with this group, and her transformation from a shy, married graduate student into a go-go dancing, street-fighting "macho mama." In vivid and emotional language, she describes the attractions and difficulties of joining a collective radical group and in maintaining a position within it.

Stern's memoir offers a rich description of the raw and rough social dynamics of this community, from its strict demands to "smash monogamy," to its sometimes enforced orgies, and to the demeaning character assassination that was led by the group's top members. She provides a distinctly personal and female perspective on the destructive social functionality and frequently contradictory attitudes toward gender roles and women's rights within the New Left.

Laura Browder's masterful introduction situates Stern's memoir in its historical context, examines the circumstances of its writing and publication, and describes the book's somewhat controversial reception by the public and critics alike.

ISBN

9780813540931

Publication Date

7-2007

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

City

New Brunswick, NJ

Keywords

Susan Stern, feminist writers, Weathermen, radical politics. female revolutionaries

School

School of Arts and Sciences

Department

American Studies

Disciplines

American Popular Culture | American Studies | Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Politics and Social Change | United States History | Women's History

Comments

Edited by Laura Browder.

Read the introduction to the book by clicking the Download button above.

Recommended Citation

Stern, Susan. With the Weathermen: The Personal Journal of a Revolutionary Woman. Edited by Laura Browder. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007.